BTL sells the Wilson Group
BTL sells the Wilson Group BTL has sold the air and sea freight division, the Wilson Group, to the venture capital company, Nordic Capital. The parties reached agreement today 3 June. The deal includes BTL's wholly-owned Italian sea and air freight company, Castelletti Overseas, and BTL's 23% shareholding in Combined Logistics which is listed in Canada. In connection with the deal, BTL has agreed additionally to purchase about 70% of Combined Logistics. This shareholding will also be taken over by Nordic Capital. An offer to purchase the remaining shares in Combined Logistics will be submitted. The total business which BTL will transfer to Nordic Capital, including Combined Logistics, has an estimated turnover of SEK 5.7 billion and employs 2,300 staff in 33 countries. Together with the German transport group Schenker, BTL runs an established pan-european network for land transport and logistics under the name Schenker- BTL. A merger between Wilson and Schenker's air and sea freight division, Schenker International, has not been judged to give sufficient synergy effects. Neither has an integration between Castelletti Overseas and Schenker International. "We have tried different ownership alternatives for Wilson," says BTL's CEO Håkan Larsson. "Wilson will now have an owner who has expressed a strong desire to keep the company's unique values and invest in expansion and development. For BTL, the deal means that we can entirely focus on developing land transport, logistics and connected IT services." The deal will finally be approved by the relevant mergers and monopolies authorities and the Board of Stinnes AG. ./. BTL AB (publ) Corporate Communications For further information please contact: Marie Gustavsson, Communications Manager, BTL, on tel. +46 31 703 82 44, or mobile +46 705 33 43 99 or Håkan Larsson, MD and CEO, BTL, on tel. +46 31 703 80 10, or mobile +46 705 51 75 75. BTL AB and the German transport group Schenker, have together established Europe's leading network for land transport and logistics under the name of Schenker-BTL. The network employs around 20,000 staff in 30 European countries. Turnover is around SEK 30 billion. BTL is a wholly-owned subsidiary within the Stinnes Group. ------------------------------------------------------------ Please visit http://www.bit.se for further information The following files are available for download: http://www.bit.se/bitonline/1999/06/03/19990603BIT00230/bit0001.doc http://www.bit.se/bitonline/1999/06/03/19990603BIT00230/bit0002.pdf